MY FIRST TRIP TO THE ROCKIES 173 



the rivers north of Puget Sound, probably contributes 

 to this bear's growth. 



Some old-timers have told me that the largest 

 grizzlies were formerly found in Idaho and Montana. 

 But these animals have now sadly decreased in num- 

 bers, and probably the two States above mentioned 

 do not at present contain half a dozen specimens of 

 the grizzly tribe. In the Yellowstone Park, bears, with 

 other game, are now strictly preserved, and are begin- 

 ning to be fairly numerous. An American friend, 

 who recently spent a month camping out in the 

 park, has informed me that one day he saw no less 

 than fourteen bears therein, including the black and 

 cinnamon varieties. 



The ferocity of the range grizzly has no doubt been 

 exaggerated. Like all animals under the sun, he 

 possesses an instinctive fear of man. But if wounded, 

 cornered, or disturbed at close quarters at a meal, he 

 will occasionally, if full-grown, attack headlong any- 

 thing or anybody. In attack he strikes, not hugs, and, 

 as his strength is gigantic, close quarters with a grizzly 

 means certain death. It was necessary, therefore, to 

 kill an attacking grizzly before he came within arm's- 

 length. In the days of the old muzzle-loading rifle 

 a weapon of inferior power to the modern breech- 

 loader the danger was naturally greater, as in the 

 case of a charge all depended on the one shot. But 

 the bear is a soft- skinned animal, and, no matter how 

 large and ferocious, he cannot in open country, where 

 one can see to shoot, live before a modern breech- 

 loading rifle in the hands of a man who knows how to 

 use it. The fatal accidents that have from time to 

 time happened to Rocky Mountain bear-hunters have 

 usually resulted from incautiously following wounded 



